Section 377 refers to ‘unnatural offences’ and says whoever voluntarily has carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal, shall be punished with imprisonment for life, or with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to 10 years, and shall also be liable to pay a fine. There was a historic judgment which was constituted by five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in reading down the provisions of Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code and decriminalizing consensual same sex relations. The Supreme Court judgment many doctors still consider homosexuality a disease. One of the things that the Section 377 judgment has done unfortunately is that it has fragmented the queer movement. The 2013 Supreme Court judgment overturned the 2009 Delhi High Court judgment that had read down Section 377 that was a blow. The movement has been kind of driven by transgender activists, sex worker activists, lawyers and organizations. But the transgender community is still fighting against the Transgender Bill. In 2014, the NALSA judgment was passed by the Supreme Court where they recognized the right to gender identity. The judgment was delivered last year was marked as a watershed moment in national conversations around queer rights. The judges made references to queer literature, and art and talked about the culture of love in society. Most significantly, they recognized that the historical wrongs done to the queer community needed to be atoned for at a policy level. However, a lot needs to be done at the socio-cultural level. The judgment has limitedly helped transgender people and those targeted by the police, but familial and social acceptance is still a pipe dream for many. It continues to be difficult to be open at workplaces and many are still forced into heterosexual marriages or are ostracized. Those with minimal access to platforms or venues need to be enabled to express their struggles and activism. There remains a universe of socio-legal benefits available to heterosexual cisgendered a person that is out of reach for the rest. In terms of legal rights, beggary and medical laws, provisions around gender identity and medical welfare is the elephant in the room. The family law is inheritance, adoption, and parental rights. Marriage and divorce are some other domains that queer people have no scope to authentically access. The 2013 judgment last year, when the judgment came through, it was an emotional moment because it had been a struggle that queer people had been going through their entire lifetime. There have been a lot of changes. There are a lot of people who have been able to find courage and come out post the judgment and even argue their case in front of their parents and peers. Futher the corporate have jumped on to the celebrating queerness bandwagon. Irrespective of whether they are coming from a purely commercial perspective, there are more organizations that either are openly supporting queer rights in their own workplaces or paying for events and advertising and supporting causes such as the pride march and so on. Though it is now legal, there are a lot of miles to cover before it reaches social sanction. The issue of Section 377 was first raised by NGO Naaz Foundation, which had in 2001 approached the Delhi High Court which had decriminalized sex between consenting adults of the same gender by holding the penal provision as “illegal”. This 2009 judgment of the high court was overturned in 2013 by the apex court which had also dismissed the review plea against which the curative petitions were filed which is pending. The Supreme Court had commenced the hearing on the fresh writ petitions. The petitioners has heard the writ petitions and they have sought decriminalization of consensual sex between two consenting adults of the same sex by declaring section 377 of IPC as illegal and unconstitutional.
